16 New Techniques and Technologies for Creating,
Delivering and Displaying 3-D have Distinctly
Canadian Flavour

20 Broadcasters, Lighting Manufacturers and

Digital Cinematographers Get the ‘Green Light’
at Industry Workshops

24 Learning New Production Automation System
Boosts Employment Prospects

Departments
4 Industry News

12 Canadian Achievers
14

Industry News

28

New Products

Broadcaster

3/19/09 8:31:48 AM

The view from here

Darkness,
Just Before Dawn

Y

ou’ve certainly heard the warnings - many
of you have made them.
‘Canadian television is in crisis’ ‘Our
future is at stake’ ‘Better if we closed conventional TV operations’
Aggravated by changing viewing habits,
changing advertising strategies and a global
economic crisis, Canada’s mainstream media
industry says it needs help.
Solutions are being proposed, and regulator hearings will address the myriad of choices
and decisions that must be made: Increased
advertising airtime. Reduced commitment to
local, regional or even Canadian content. Feefor-carriage.
Not that long ago, however, the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CRTC, said in a ruling that there were
sufficient revenues available to over-the-air stations. It did, however, permit those stations to
increase their hourly advertising minutes from
12 to 14.
Not surprisingly, people working in the
domestic TV industry object to any suggestion
that Canadian programming should be reduced
as a way of saving money.
They say Canadian networks’ spend on
U.S. programming hit record levels last year
— $775 million, one of the few numbers that
has actually gone up (7.4 per cent) from the
previous year.
The CRTC says it will consider imposing a
“1:1 ratio” rule between Canadian and foreign
programming expenditures during domestic
license hearings scheduled to begin April 27.
The CRTC has already turned down the
conventional broadcasters’ request to charge
cable and satellite distributors for carrying
their channels. At the time, the CRTC felt the
networks failed to prove their need for the
higher revenues.
That position may change.

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Fee-for-carriage, if implemented, it could
add something like $10 to a subscriber’s
monthly bill. It could bring as much as $300
million in revenues to the broadcasters, but
would it cause a consumer backlash?
Consumers show no lack of interest in consuming content, of course, just a concern over
how they pay for it, and how much. That they
want media is clear. They want it in other ways,
at other times, on other screens. Mobile media,
Internet streaming sites, IPTV services — all
are gaining some traction in the wounded marketplace.
So, while it is true that advertising dollars
and viewers are drifting away from conventional
television, the beneficiaries have been cable
channels, specialty services, Internet properties
and mobile platforms. The kind owned and
operated by many conventional broadcasters.
The kind enjoying the attention of a whole new
generation of media consumers.
If the model of conventional TV is broken,
the question ‘who broke it?’ has some extra
relevance. It’s not the fault of the broadcasters
- not all by themselves. It’s not the fault of the
carriers — not all alone. It’s not the fault of the
advertisers — not entirely. It’s not the fault of
new technology, not if taken in isolation.
So, solutions cannot be taken in isolation,
either. Remedies must be broad, fair and
effective so as to keep the Canadian broadcast
industry creative, healthy and dynamic.
It’s not by coincidence, then, that this issue
has stories in which our creativity, health
and dynamism is apparent: In iconic sports
broadcasting content. In experienced people,
working with advanced new production gear. In
a whole new generation of broadcasters, eager
to get to work.
That, as they say, is not a warning — it’s a
promise!
B

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:48:14 PM

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3/18/09 3:48:15 PM

Broadcaster

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March 2009

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/19/09 10:35:37 AM

Cultural Preservation Depends On
Digital Audio and Post Production
Techniques and Technologies
State of the Art Treatment for New Version of ‘Second National Anthem’
By Lee Rickwood

In what is seen — and heard — as the largest
fully digital sound recording session of its kind,
Canada’s second national anthem was lovingly recreated and recorded using state of the
art digital microphones and surround sound
equipment.

T

Under the baton of conductor Darren Fung (left),
musicians from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
brought new life to an old favourite. Supervising
the digital recording of The Hockey Theme was
CTV’s Michael Nunan, Post Audio Supervisor,
shown at the control console (right). A key participant was Wolfgang Fraissinet, President of
Marketing/Sales at Neumann, supplier of much
of the technology used.

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 7

Orchestra, under the baton of renowned conductor Darren Fung, were engaged to perform.
As well, throughout the process CTV consulted closely with Vancouver’s Dolores Claman,
the song’s original writer. What’s more, Peter
Houston, the engineer on the original recording (and a long-time collaborator of Claman’s)
along with John Ciccone, music consultant and
former rights administer of ‘The Hockey Theme’,
worked on the musical performance aspects of
the project

Photos by David Midgley

he new version of ‘The Hockey Theme’
surely echoes the original 1968 composition, maintaining the familiar core melody
and rhythmic structure. At the same time, the
tune has been digitally updated, refreshed
and reversioned, so that a number of new
arrangements and optional treatments are now
available.
CTV Inc. created the new recordings of ‘The
Hockey Theme’ following its June 2008 acquisition of all rights to the composition in perpetuity.
As a result of the digital recording sessions, CTV
is preserving the song’s legacy and is ensuring it
will be heard on national television for years to
come, and not just on TSN, RDS or CTV hockey
telecasts. The theme will have a significant role
in the broadcast coverage of the 2012 Olympics,
as well, CTV says.
The importance of the new version, in both
musical performance and technical production
terms, had to be top notch.
So, 52 musicians from the Toronto Symphony

On the technical side, the job of chief engineer on the recording fell to Michael Nunan,
CTV Television’s Post Audio Supervisor, along
with his team of operators and engineers, and
what would turn out to be an unprecedented
collection of digital microphones and related
technology.
The mic kit was actually bigger than he could
pull together with existing resources; it was supplemented when German microphone manufacturer Neumann, the company president and the
Canadian distributor all came together to provide
additional gear - in total, more than 30 digital
mics were used in direct or array set-ups.
In some ways, the assignment would be a
“proof of concept” for all-digital field / location
recording. But, as Nunan noted, “Failure was not
an option. We had to exercise great care in making what was more than a first class restoration,
it was a new digital recording that would live on
in the hearts and minds of hockey fans across
the country.”

Broadcaster

3/18/09 3:48:51 PM

It’s an iconic anthem, but reading the old
score and recording the new version had its
challenges. People and technology combined
to meet that task - for example, a chain of
MacBooks was implemented to provide
control interfaces between advanced digital
microphone systems and a master control
unit in the remote truck.

Despite the importance of the project, some
will still wonder if a state-of-the-art, fully digital
surround sound recording isn’t a bit of technooverkill. First off, there is no little expense
involved in a digital remote recording session.
Secondly, a lot of TV viewers still aren’t watching
HD, or if they are, a lot aren’t listening to full
5.1 surround sound. (For that matter, not all
broadcasters actually deliver a true 5.1 surround
sound with their HD signal - but CTV does.)
So, was the hockey session overkill?
“Negative!” comes Nunan’s succinct reply.
He can and will speak knowingly and passionately about the quality of digital sound today, and
the immersive, emotional impact that surround
sound can create for the TV audience. He knows
that those who master the new technology will
have new ways of telling stories, more effective
and more engaging ways, but he also knows that
may not win in the final argument.
“Knowing the creative advantages, knowing that they can be spectacular wouldn’t get
us there, I had to have other reasons beyond
quality,” Nunan explains. “I needed an ROI
argument.”
And by using digital equipment throughout
the recording process, he got that, too. Something as simple as the sound check can help save
money, if you do it well enough and fast enough.
With 50-plus musicians on hire, and a concert
hall large enough to hold them all being rented,
every minute was an expensive one.
Nunan notes that he was able to complete
the sound check, with 52 performers and 32
microphones, in about six minutes! More to the
point, from just a two-day recording session,
he was able to record, master and deliver the
main opening theme within thirty hours of the
session!

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March 2009

What’s more, a total of 39 cues were recorded and delivered in both 5.1 and Lo/Ro (left only,
right only) stereo mixes, and some custom mixes
for cell phone ring tones and even beer cases (a
marketing and promotional campaign gave away
some thousands of small sound devices that
played back a Hockey Theme mix).
The two-day recording session was booked at
the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, ON.
Its Hammerson Hall concert facility is one of
the few around that could not only accommodate
the large performing orchestra and technical
crew, but that also had the acoustic characteristics and aural ambience required.
One day of set-up was followed by actual
recording sessions, with a 21 piece brass band
kicking things off. Day Two would see the full 52
member orchestra perform. A smaller rhythm
section - electric bass and drum kit - were
recorded as overdubs in the afternoon of each

day, to give more control over that particular
sound, Nunan described.
He had a remote recording control room
brought in, courtesy of Doug McClement and
LiveWire Remote Recorders. “We have a long
and productive relationship with Doug,” says
Nunan. “But in a way, it’s been under-utilized.
Despite not being a “live” production, for which
Doug is rightfully well known - this job pushed
the technical and creative envelope in a few
directions, and Doug was a fantastic asset.”
The LiveWire mobile is a 32’ long air-ride
trailer, with a tape room, control room, and
maintenance room in its expanding chassis. The
truck is equipped for full 5.1 surround sound
monitoring, and has a 96 input SSL C200 board
along with 96 channels of ProTools HD record
capability.
The mic kit Nunan utilized on the session
reads like a tech spec sheet for AES-42, the Audio
Engineering Society’s specification for the digital
audio transmission and remote control standards. Most were Neumann’s, which makes perfect sense, as the company was very involved in
the drafting and establishment of the standard.
Nunan had eight D-01s, seven KM 183D omni
seven 185D hyper cardioid, and ten KM 184 D
cardioid mics, all from Neumann. The digital

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:49:11 PM

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Fifty two orchestra musicians, a brass
ensemble and a small rock combo all
contributed to the new recording, done in a
remarkably short time. A large number of
ambient and direct mic’ing techniques
were used, and the session marked one of
the largest deployments of the Neumann digital
Solution D mics (below), each connected
via ‘DMI beach’ (at right, below) to
console and recorders.

mic collection was augmented by ‘conventional’
microphones to specifically address the Surround nature of the recording: a Soundfield
ST350 ambisonic microphone, a Holophone
H2-Pro surround microphone, and a prototype
microphone array from Neural Audio were also
used.
Neumann Germany provided as many as
17 additional microphones especially for the
hockey sessions to augment CTV’s own Neumann
digital microphone complement, “making this
the largest single deployment of this technology
in North America to date”, according to Wolfgang Fraissinet, President of Marketing/Sales at
Neumann.
Although the D-01 microphone looks similar

10

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March 2009

to an analog mic, it is unique in its configuration with an A/D converter ‘built in’, receiving
the output signal directly from the capsule and
converting immediately into a 28-bit signal with
a dynamic range of more than 130 dB.
“Solution D” as Neumann calls it therefore
does not rely on intermediate analog stages and
is not limited to present-day PCM standards. It
also eliminates sonic colorations of a mic preamp and removing the possibility of noise pickup
in the signal path.
Other mic functions, like gain, low cut and
pattern selection, can be remotely controlled,
using an AES 42 interface (the DMI-2) and
remote-control software to address each compatible microphone used in a record session.

Using on-screen controls, mic settings can be
set, adjusted and changed as needed, so very
fast tests and checks can be done. The operating status and parameters of all connected
microphones can be monitored during production, and the settings can be quickly and easily
changed if necessary. It is also possible to monitor signal levels on the screen.
For the hockey sessions, that meant creating
a “DMI beach”, as Nunan calls it, using a chain
of Apple MacBooks to interface between the mic
controls and a master control unit in the truck.
The AES3 outputs of the DMI-2 interfaces were
carried back to the truck on an Optocore fibre
network. In addition to transporting 16 stereo
AES signals to the SSL console, the Optocore
system also provided a mechanism for delivering
Clock signals to all of the microphones, as well
as allowing for the Ethernet traffic required to
remotely control the MacBook computers from
inside the truck.
Nunan’s goal in actual mic-ing and placement was to capture a dynamic and spatial
feel, one that accurately reproduced the voice
of the instruments, and put them into a large
space that could audibly recreate an arena feel.
Strategic mic placement meant the instruments,
ambient and hall sounds all had to be captured
accurately.

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:49:44 PM

“We captured the event from every conceivable sonic angle. We knew that we’d never be
able to do this again, and we also knew that we
needed to cover all our bases in terms of what
could be asked for during the mix. Given all the
tracks at our disposal, we could virtually move
through the space,” he says, switching between
individual recordings of the discretely placed
microphones, but teasing to the sophisticated

Broadcaster

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 11

home theatre environment. Nunan used specific
spot mics through the musician’s performing
area, with secondary arrays placed at distance
and the neural array and the Holophone placed
high in the hall.
With so much technology being used, and
with so much history at stake, the levels of trust
and confidence among the musicians, technicians, producers and arrangers, had to be at
their highest, especially during the two-day
recording session.
As Nunan mentioned, within days, the new
Hockey Theme was on air! Its debut (on RDS)
was October 10th, and on TSN, October 14th. It
will be played more than 115 times during the
08/09 broadcast season alone.
“We take great pride in blending the heritage of this song with the best digital technology
available,” Rick Brace, CTV President, Revenue
and Sports, said of the new theme and the methods used to capture it. “I think we’ve created a
stunning rendition that’s sure to resonate with
the fans.”
B

11

3/18/09 3:50:04 PM

Canadian Achievers

Great Sports Programming
a Real Achievement,
But Two Hundred Grand Doesn’t Hurt
by Dick Drew

T

ake it from me, Canadian produced syndicated radio programs are tough to keep
on the air.
Over the years, I have produced and syndicated over 5000 episodes. Some in French,
some in English. Some were barters. About
3000 were “Canadian Achievers”.
No matter, it’s tough, and for the following
reasons:
• After a while national sponsors want something new.
• After a while, station PD’s want something
new.
There are 50 other reasons, but you get the
picture.
That’s why I pay tribute (and hope you will
join me in doing so) in this column to the 25th
Anniversary of Grapeline, the daily syndicated
radio sports program.
It’s the co-creation of three of the best in
the business, as it is hosted by Don Cherry and
Brian Williams, and produced by Prior Smith.
Would you believe they launched the show
on a handshake!?! And now 25 years later, these
three amigos still go to work on the basis of that
handshake (and they still like one another)!
Wow!
Of course, it helps if, in one of those shaking hands, a cheque for $200,000 is held!
That’s just one of the stories in Don Cherry’s
new book Hockey Stories & Stuff. He tells
many others. It’s a hoot!
But recalls the wonderful story of how he
first approached CFRB to host a sports show.
Prior Smith, a producer at the station at the
time, was charged with explaining to Don how,
sorry, but there is already a long line of people
wanting to do just that.
But Cherry handed Smith a cheque from
Bridgestone Tire for $200,000 to sponsor the
show! That’s 1984 dollars, by the way, probably
worth like billions today!
That powerfully simple act of commerce

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March 2009

immediately convinced Prior Smith and CFRB
that a show with Don Cherry was indeed a very
good idea. Prior then convinced Brian Williams
to co-host and the show was off and running.
Over the years, it moved to Telemedia for
a while, but it now is produced at Rogers’ The
Fan 590 in Toronto, from where it is syndicated
to about 100 radio stations across Canada and by
Internet around the world.
Each of the amigos —
Don Cherry, Brian Williams
and Prior Smith — is a
Canadian Achiever on their
own merit.
Don Cherry because
he is Don Cherry, need I
say more. Read his book,
it’s all delightfully there.
He talks openly about his
many ups and downs.
He’s also a very interesting interview because he
gives straight answers, such
as when I asked him why
did not ever give up:
“Dick, I would like to
say it was my character and upbringing. It was
hunger, when you have no education, no trade
and you are down and out as the old saying
goes, nobody knows you when you are down
and out and nobody was going to take it from
me when I made a come back because I’ve
been there and it ain’t nice.”
I believe him when he says he has no idea of
how much money he earns. I also believe him
when he says, “Everyday I thank the lord that
he was kind...”
“Never in my wildest dreams,” he continued,
“did I ever think that I would be in the position
I am now. All I wanted was to have a job in
construction! Broadcasting and media never
entered my mind. I was told I would never last

Don Cherry, Brian Williams and Prior Smith (top
to bottom) are the ‘Three Amigos’ responsible
for some iconic Canadian programming, both for
radio and TV.

a month on the air with my English...”
Don’s delivery and his vocabulary are definitely part of the sizzle, and part of the reason
he’s been successful with TV with Coaches’
Corner for 25 years (10 with co-host Dave
Hodge, 15 with Don McLean) and on radio for

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:50:11 PM

25 years with Grapeline.
Working the other side of the Grapeline
microphone is Brian Williams.
To better understand where Williams gets his
energy, drive, determination and integrity, you
have to take a moment to read the story of his
remarkable dad, Dr. Kenneth Williams
(At www.canadianachievers.com, you can
find a free downloadable version of my book,
The Canadian Achievers, with that remarkable
story. Brian’s dad, now 93, is still active, and he
was in South America when I spoke with son
Brian for this report. Dr. Williams is a remarkable person as is his son; achieving is in their
genes.)
Brian was born in 1946 in Winnipeg but
raised in Hamilton, where he developed a
strong steel town determination common to
people from Hamilton. It has helped make him
one of North America’s premier sportscasters,
starting way back when with the Memorial Cup
broadcast in the early 70s, from the old Montreal Forum.
Stints followed with CFRB and CHUM followed until 1974, when he began freelancing
for the CBC. He continued as a freelance sportscaster for 32 years until June of 2006, when he
shocked the sports world by announcing he was
moving to rival CTV/TSN.
“I left the CBC for an opportunity of a
lifetime,” he explains. “That’s to work a 3rd
Olympics in my own country, the 2010 Winter
Games Vancouver, and to be part of building an
Olympics team at CTV.”
He is already making plans for the 2012
Olympics in England, which will be his 14th
Olympics! That’s added to a long list of major
sports he has also covered, including Blue Jays
baseball, 25 Grey Cups, figure skating, hockey,
the Brier. You name a sport, Brian has not only
broadcast it, he will quote names and stats from
it, up until the cows come home.
But I had to ask Brian the one question really
on everyone’s mind: ‘What’s it like working with
Don Cherry?’
“He is exactly as he looks and sounds on
TV and radio,” Williams begins. “People might
not always agree with him, but they know he is
straightforward and honest. And of course he is
always entertaining. He’s as fresh and vibrant
at 75 as he was in his 40’s. When we started
back in September 1984, he wondered if he

had enough good stories to last until Christmas. Here we are decades later and he hasn’t
scratched the surface. Don is an unbelievable
storyteller.”
The glue that holds Grapeline together and
helps keep the stories on track is veteran broadcast and show producer & co-creator, Prior
Smith (and their brilliant broadcast editor Stan
Matacki at Rogers). It was Prior who looked at
the $200,000 cheque Cherry was holding and
said “Let’s do it!”
They have been doing it ever since.
Prior’s voice is well known throughout the
southern United States where for 31 years, he’s
been the voice (and the owner) of the daily radio
series Canada Calling, now in its 50th year. The
program is produced and syndicated out of his
own home studio. It airs during the winter, keeping Canadian snowbirds up to date with Canadian
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2-32 BRC March 09.indd 13

— of course - hockey scores.
Between producing episodes of Canada Calling and episodes of Grapeline from November
to April, Prior seldom has time to wipe his nose,
but he still seems to have all the help he needs
“The people who work on Grapeline bring
unique talents to the studio each week,” Smith
explains. “The show is all about story telling. In
that regard Don is in a class by himself. Brian is
the ultimate radio pro. The two clicked from day
one. As a producer, I learned a long time ago
the best thing I can do aside from steering the
ship is to get out of the way. When you are working with talent like this, the secret to success is
the fact that just about everything is unscripted
and first take. The show is seasonal so every six
months, we have a chance to be fresh.”
Fresh and new, after all this time?
Now, that’s an achievement!

Broadcaster

BROADCAST AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS

8/23/06 9:02:33 AM

1

3/18/09 3:50:13 PM

Industry News
Media Support for Media Fund
The Government of Canada announced major
changes to what was formerly the Canadian
Television Fund (CTF), and unveiled the new
Canadian Media Fund as a replacement.
The CMF will be created as the Canadian
Television Fund and the Canada New Media
Fund are combined, reformed and rebranded
through a renewed partnership with the industry.
Its mandate will be to ensure the production of
quality content and to make it available on multiple platforms.
The announcement was made on the set of
Flashpoint, a television series that is broadcast
on conventional television and is also available
online.
Joining the Minister were Chris Frank of Bell
Video Group, Phil Lind of Rogers Communications, Pierre Karl Peladeau of Quebecor/Videotron, Ken Stein of Shaw Communications, Mark
Bishop and Matt Hornburg of marblemedia, and
Tim Casgrain of CBC/Radio-Canada.
“The Canada Media Fund will help our producers and broadcasters to do what they do best:
create, entertain, and connect with Canadians,”
said Minister Moore. “We are confident that
the broadcasting and interactive digital media
sectors will continue to contribute to Canada’s
economic well-being and will benefit Canadians
from all regions of the country.”
The reformed and integrated fund will be
fully implemented and in place by April 1, 2010.
CBC/Radio-Canada says it applauds the Government’s efforts to simplify the overall funding process and to improve governance and
accountability of the Fund by ensuring that all
directors will be independent.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is encouraged that the
Government believes first-run, prime-time Canadian programming is as important as we think it
is,” said Hubert T. Lacroix, President and CEO of
CBC/Radio-Canada. “The new Fund is designed
to make sure that Canadians have access to more
of the popular drama, comedy and children’s
programming that they want to watch, when,
how and where they want to watch it. More of
that can only benefit Canadians and the Canadian
broadcasting system.”
CBC/Radio-Canada says the changes should
modernize the Fund and improve it through better governance, simplification of process and a
focus on innovation.
“What is essential now is to make certain
that the principles laid out today are respected
as the broadcasting industry moves into imple-

14

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March 2009

mentation,” added Lacroix. “The challenge is to
ensure that the Fund focuses on new programs
shown when most Canadians are watching. If it’s
done right, the model will be a success. If it isn’t,
CBC/Radio-Canada is concerned that the elimination of our 37 per cent envelope will lead to a
reduction in viewing to Canadian programming
in prime time.”
The 37 per cent envelope formerly dedicated
to CBC/Radio-Canada enabled the Corporation to
address a critical shortage of first-run Canadian
programming in prime time. It allowed the Corporation to commit over $100 million annually
to the production of original drama and comedy
— which is approximately 50 percent more than
the commitment of the entire private conventional broadcasting industry combined.
The $134.7 million annual fund to stimulate
domestic television production in Canada is
receiving broad industry support.
In a written statement, the fund was called
“good news for the industry” by Pierre Karl
Peladeau, president of Quebecor and Sun Media.
“A Canadian fund driven by performance and
quality-related criteria is a positive development,” Peladeau said.
CTV also welcomed the creation of the Canada Media Fund.
“In this ever-changing media landscape, we
agree that all broadcasting regulations must be
continually reviewed to ensure their ongoing
relevance,” said Ivan Fecan, President and Chief
Executive Officer, CTVglobemedia and Chief
Executive Officer, CTV Inc. “Congratulations to
Minister Moore for recognizing the importance
of audience success and for putting the audience
first in the creation of this fund. All of us in media
exist to serve the audience.”
CTV also applauded the proposal striking
down antiquated rules that prevented broadcaster investment in the creation of high-quality Canadian programs for both broadcast and
digital platforms.
D-Box Shakes Up
Theatrical Experience
A Montreal company is adding another dimension to movies — movement. It is using a new
a technology to synchronize on-screen movie
action with the movie-goers’ theatre chair.
Universal Pictures’ action-thriller “Fast &
Furious”, released April 3, will be the first
theatrical feature to use its D-Box Motion Code
technology. Montreal’s D-Box Technologies says
it will have two theatres deployed with exclusive

viewing areas equipped with special D-Boxenhanced seating.
Using its patented technology, D-Box uses
motion codes specifically programmed for each
film, TV program or video game, which are sent
to a motion generating system integrated within
either a platform or a seat. The resulting motion is
synchronized with all onscreen action, the company describes, creating an unmatched realistic,
immersive experience. To date, D-Box Motion
Code is available on more than 850 video titles,
and embedded into Blu-ray format releases.
“We are very proud to showcase our immersive D-Box Motion Code technology with ‘Fast
& Furious’ from Universal,” stated Claude Mc
Master, president and chief executive officer
of D-Box Technologies. “This will be a first for
moviegoers as they will be able to not only watch
the movie, but also feel the action like never
before in a commercial theatre environment.”
A D-BOX demonstration kiosk will be installed
in each theatre’s lobby prior to the “Fast & Furious” release, giving patrons the opportunity to
test drive D-Box’s immersive movie experience.
End-to-End Network Video
Solutions from HAI Vision
HaiVision Systems, the Montreal-based H.264
encoders and codec systems vendor, announced
plans to merge with IP delivery company Video
Furnace and become HaiVision Network Video.
Combined, the companies will offer end-toend high-definition (HD) H.264 IPTV platform
for education, corporate, medical, and military
video-over-IP distribution systems.
“The combination of HaiVision and Video
Furnace technologies delivers the most advanced
solution for H.264 IP video distribution,” said
Mirko Wicha, president and CEO of HaiVision Network Video. “Our integration partners and customers are very excited about having a single-vendor solution in this fragmented market space.”
HaiVision develops the highest performance
H.264 encoder hardware, which incorporates
the company’s MAKO-HD codec to deliver 1080p
HD over IP networks with an imperceptible
70 milliseconds of end-to-end latency. Video
Furnace develops IP video distribution systems
with full recording and video on demand (VOD)
functionality.
CTV Streams Online Content in HD
CTV started streaming HD content, offering select
titles through its Internet video player in highdefinition format in a test of Akamai Technolo-

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:50:14 PM

Industry News
gies’ AdaptiveEdge Streaming service.
“In response to the ever-growing demand for
engaging online content, we’ve made a strong
commitment to delivering the highest quality
video streaming experience for our consumers,”
said Stephan Argent, CTV’s Vice-President, Digital
Media. “Experimenting with Akamai AdaptiveEdge
Streaming will be an excellent learning initiative
for us and is a reflection of our ongoing efforts to
evolve the user experience to a new level.”
Akamai AdaptiveEdge Streaming for Microsoft
Silverlight adapts stream quality based on a user’s
connection speed, and enabales high bandwidth
connections to receive true HD (720p+) quality
streaming while consumers with lower connection speeds can receive the highest-quality video
stream available for their levels of connectivity.
CTV has worked with Akamai for years
to deliver high quality online video, and the
broadcaster launched a pilot to showcase key
titles available online in true HD, via Akamai
AdaptiveEdge Streaming, in an effort to better
understand audience reaction to higher-quality
content. The CTV HD Beta Player will allow fans
of some of CTV’s top original shows to watch in
clear, HD streaming video format while enabling
the broadcaster to solicit feedback from users.
Specialty Data Systems
Builds Sales Team
Specialty Data Systems of
Toronto, a leading North
American provider of broadcast management systems,
appointed Shane Harris as
Shane Harris
Director of Sales.
In his new role, Harris — based in Boise,
Idaho — will be responsible for the account
management of SDS’ client base in the U.S.,
including radio, television, cable, interactive
and sports networks. Well known for his work
in broadcast traffic and sales operations management, Harris comes to SDS after more than
10 years with Hailey, Idaho-based Marketron
Broadcast Solutions, where he was most recently
National Sales Manager.
“Shane is well-respected in the industry for
his ability to help broadcasters become more
efficient,” said Dave Cole, SDS President and
CEO. “His experience, combined with SDS’s 20
years of success in delivering innovative broadcast software systems, provide our U.S. clients
with a unique and proven value proposition.”
With an additional SDS office scheduled to
open in the U.S. in 2010, Harris will lead the

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 15

company’s U.S. expansion efforts to provide
broadcasters with operational integration of all
their departments into the SDS Symphony system,
the company’s flagship broadcast management
software.
The Giant Gets Larger Than Life
105-3 The Giant in Thunder Bay will become the
first Canadian home for “The Bob & Tom Show”.
105-3 The Giant,
a Newcap radio station, was the first
in Canada to air
“Nights with Alice
Cooper” and the station says its breaking
new ground again,
letting what it calls
Bob & Tom
“one of the biggest
radio shows in the world” take over afternoons
in Thunder Bay.
Bob & Tom are currently heard on over 100
radio stations every day across North America.
Bob & Tom are five-time Marconi Award winners, the only show to win the award five times.
They are also three-time radio and records classic rock personalities of the year and two time
Billboard Magazine Radio Personalities of the
Year Winners.
Sandra Dolynchuk, Program Director at
105.3 The Giant, reports they made their Cana-

dian radio debut on March 16th.
QuStream Appoints New VP and
General Manager
QuStream Corporation, Toronto-based highdefinition (HD) broadcast solutions provider,
announced that Charles D. Tillett has been appointed as VP and General Manager of QuStream
effective immediately.
Tillett has over 30 years’ experience leading
dynamic organizations in the electronic industry.
He has held various senior positions, including
most recently, President and COO of Innovative
Technical Services.
“The company is pleased to have someone
of Mr. Tillett’s caliber and the entire team looks
forward to working with him as we continue
to strengthen the organization to support the
continued growth of QuStream”, said Howard
Sutton, President and CEO of QuStream.
TV Series Uses Micro-site to
Drive Characters, Plotline
A new Global TV series takes a step beyond television with multi-platform features that push the
show’s storyline and expand the viewer experience.
Harper’s Island is an all-new modern-day
‘whodunnit’ that unfolds and concludes over the
course of 13 chilling episodes, programmers
describe. Each week, a victim falls prey to a manicontinues on page 27

New Techniques and Technologies for Creating, Delivering and Displaying 3-D have
Distinctly Canadian Flavour
By Lee Rickwood

It’s a firehall, not a movie studio! And it’s more than a stone-throw away
from the city’s so-called Film District, where huge sound stages reside.

Station 334 doubles as a 3-D commercial
production set (note the studio lights through the
glass garage door at right) as producer director
James Stewart, above left, reviews the 3-D
camera set-up with crew members.

16

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March 2009

PHOTO CREDIT: LEE RICKWOOD

PHOTO CREDIT: CYLVAN DESROULEAUX

B

ut, sitting alone on the water’s edge,
nestled in Toronto’s central Harbourfront
district, Fire and Marine Station 334 is this
day home to a very special cinematographic
production.
It’s the site for one of the first 3-D commercial shoots ever staged (strictly speaking, it’s a
PSA), so it provided a rare glimpse inside the
world of state-of-the-art digital media production, and look towards the future of TV, movies
and mobile content.
Toronto-based Geneva Film Co. producer/
director James Stewart was in charge of the
production, in which a powerful public service
announcement, on behalf of first responders like
fire and emergency services, is being created.
The spot was commissioned by the Tema
Conter Memorial Trust — a national charity that
helps emergency services personnel understand
and cope with the effects of Acute and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
To underscore the emotional message and
the visceral connection with the audience, the
spot was shot in 3-D, and will screen in 3-D
equipped cinemas beginning in April. But it
could also be watched on 3-D enabled mobile
devices (which are now available) and on 3-D
TVs (which will soon be).
Of course, the spot will be simultaneously

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3/19/09 8:55:57 AM

coMPosite Photo illustratioN: bill White aND eric White

prepped for 2-D delivery, on conventional TV
and the Web, Stewart explains.
But it’s the 3-D aspect that has drawn us to
this unusual location - along with a very unusual
looking camera rig.
Stewart began working in 3-D back in 2005,
and is one of a select group of film directors
actively shooting commercials in Live-Action
Digital 3-D. “We are working on the leadingedge of the 3-D phenomena — a medium which
has the potential to transform not only the advertising world, but all media — gaming, hand-held
devices, and cinema as we know it,” says Stewart.
“This project marks the world’s first 3-D PSA
- and capitalizes on a fantastic new medium for a
good cause. Coming on the heels of the world’s
first 3-D television commercial for Pepsi during
the Super Bowl, this 3-D PSA is a clear demonstration to advertisers and marketers of the

No, you do not need glasses....
Advances in autostereoscopic displays and
convergence camera rigs are making 3-D media
production, such as this PSA shoot in Toronto,
and 3-D content delivery a reality - and without
the goofy glasses of yesteryear.

versatility and power of 3-D for communicating
emotional, as well as entertaining content.”
For this shoot, Stewart worked with gear
from 3-DCC, the 3-D Camera Company, which
was founded and is based in Toronto.
The 3-D Camera Company (3-DCC) is a
partnership between William (Bill) White and
William Reeve. The offices of 3-DCC are located
in Toronto, Canada and Berlin, Germany.
3-DCC is a partnership between Bill White
and William Reeve, well-known and established
cinematographers, who entered into a cooperative venture to develop and rent specialized stereoscopic (3-D) image capture equipment for the motion picture
entertainment industry.

The company developed a stereoscopic rig
system, on which two ARRI 235 35mm MOS
cameras are mounted.
The fully synchronized cameras are specifically modified and mounted on a convergence
system to control stereoscopic depth. All the 3-D
parameters can be adjusted ‘on the fly’.
Stewart (who has worked with many other
3-D systems and many other cameras attached
to them) says that variable interocular conver-

A new protective case for the iPhone,
developed in Canada, enables engaging
3-D content delivery on portable devices.

Broadcasters Delve Into
-D Game Development
Broadcasters and specialty channels have
built successful businesses by delivering
flat, 2-D images to the home. Now, some
of the more visionary companies are
moving to the third dimension, and using
mobile devices.
Astral Media already owns some 20
specialty channels, and it operates nearly
100 websites (in addition to being one of
the country’s largest radio broadcasters).
Yet, it is now involved in a development
project for 3-D gaming on popular portable
digital devices like the Apple iPhone.
“We are excited to extend Family
Channel’s engagement with young Can–
adians to include the development of
innovative gaming on this highly interactive
platform,” said Barbara Bailie, Director,
Interactive, Astral Television Networks.
“Gaming remains the most popular activity
on our website, Family.ca, so we’re keen
to extend our reach into gaming by having
our Ontario-based Interactive team work
closely with cutting-edge developers to

deliver Family’s experience to kids
on the move.”
With seed money from the
Ontario government, and help from
developers at Spatial View and the
Sheridan College Visualization Design
Institute, a new glasses-free 3-D minigame is in development for Family.ca, to
be called Carnival Craze.
Family provided sponsorship, creative
and brand direction based on their
familiarity with online game-play content
for audiences aged eight to 14.
The game is played and viewed in
natural 3-D using a 3-DeeShell from
Can–adian manufacturer Spatial View.
The shell includes a stereoscopic overlay
(a ‘3-Dflector’, or ‘parallax barrier’) that
enables 3-D display on a flat PC or TV
screen.
For mobile media users, the 3-DeeShell
has a similar polarized 3-D viewing overlay
fitted into a protective case, letting users
see specially-encoded media with an

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2-32 BRC March 09.indd 17

apparent
third visual dimension.
Spatial View is also
making 3-D content creation
tools and plug-ins available, connecting
to popular digital media platforms like
Flash.
Spatial View is also working with hightech manufacturer Texas Instruments
on its 3-D mobile solutions. Spatial View
3-D prototype will enable TI’s OMAP
development platform to playback and
vivid glasses-free 3-D images and videos.
The high-performance, low-power con–
sumption OMAP processors are said to
permit manufacturers like SpatialView and
others to bring to market new, multimediarich handheld devices.
Spatial View also provided advisory
and collaborative support to the project.
The Sheridan Institute helped design
the game, working with Spatial View’s
development team.

1

3/18/09 3:51:25 PM

gence rigs, in which camera motion and distance
between them can be remote controlled, are crucial for doing dramatic sequences, or shooting in
enclosed areas.
“Convergence means you can vary the distance between the cameras, bringing it down
to about an inch or so. You can’t really do that
with cameras mounted side-by-side on a support
platform, you really need a convergence rig. It’s
very versatile, and yes, very expensive, but it’s the
way to go,” he says.
Being able to vary that distance, to ‘tow the
cameras in’ can be equated to converging or

focusing our own eyes. If you were to focus on
something very close to your nose, your eyes
converge, and you go a little cross-eyed. We
don’t usually focus back and forth, between
things six inches and 20 feet away, but that is
what can happen in a 3-D production.
Cinematographers, camera operators and
now stereographers on a production set have
to be wary of creating a muscular strain, a
visual strain, in the audience who watches 3-D
content.
The stereographer, usually a knowledgeable
cinematographer with added 3-D experience,

is the newest member of the production crew,
Stewart explains, noting that directing, staging,
blocking, traditional notions of camera composition and movement all have to be re-thought
while working in three dimensions.
“We have to realize we now have control over
people’s eyeballs,” he says. “Much in the way we
massage their ears with the soundtrack, we can
now massage their eyes. So we need to storyboard a film or commercial carefully in 3-D.”
Part of that need is viewer safety!
Stewart points out that 3-D filmmakers and
cinematographers must be aware of how they

Digital Cinemas Serve Up
3-D Sports and Live Event Broadcasts
The first live 3-D event broadcast to Canadian cinemas was a
big success, and it will lead to further such broadcasts, and
wider adoption of 3-D technology overall.
“The event was loved by fans and was very well attended
by industry insiders and content providers looking to preview
this new cutting edge technology,” reported Dean Leland, Vice
President — Studio & Media Relations for Empire Theatres.
“We were the exclusive (and first Canadian) cinema partner for
this event so it was an exciting one for all of us.”
Empire Theatres, the National Basketball Association (NBA)
and the Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corporation broadcast 3-D
coverage of the NBA’s All-Star Night to the Empress Walk
theatre in North York, ON.
The fully marketed deal also brought the 3-D broadcast to
more than 80 theatres across the United States.
The technology used was developed in Canada — by Cinedigm
in conjunction with International Datacasting Corporation, based
in Ottawa and Sensio, based in Montreal, Leland described.
Sensio CineLive enables either 2-D or 3-D content, such as
sporting events and concerts, to be broadcast live in digital movie
theaters. It uses the Sensio 3-D movie decoding technology and
the IDC SuperFlex DVB-S2 broadband transmission technology.
It is designed to work with Cinedigm’s satellite network and
digital movie systems fitted with 3-D technology.
“Although several 3-D broadcast tests have been performed
over the past two years, this is the first commercially viable
event of its kind and we are extremely proud to be a part of
it. We have been able to stay one step ahead of the industry
and, now that the interest in Live 3-D is becoming more real,
our technology is not only ready, but it also is the only one to
be integrated in a theater network,” said Sensio President and
CEO, Nicholas Routhier.
“Empire Theatres and Cinedigm are the ideal partners to
work with in delivering the next evolution of 3-D HD to our
fans in Canada,” said Dan MacKenzie, General Manager,
NBA Canada, Inc. “We have embraced 3-D HD as a new and
innovative way to experience the excitement of our game. We
look forward to basketball fans at Empire Theatres Empress
Walk having a courtside seat for All-Star Saturday Night.”
For the special broadcast, Empress had a new satellite dish

18

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March 2009

installed, as well as new decoders to enable presentation. A
capable digital projector was already in place.
“Fans they said enjoyed the game from the comfort of high
back seats, and that the exceptional sound and 3-D visual
technology was a thrill to experience,” Leland added. “There
are 240 seats in the auditorium at Empire Theatres Empress
Walk where we held the event, and by show time, there were
only a handful of seats left. For all intents and purposes, a sell
out! During the event, we held trivia contests with the audience
to award autographed NBA merchandise.”
“Cinedigm is the only company that can deliver Live 3-D
broadcast on this scale to cinemas and we are thrilled to be
working with the NBA and Empire Theatres on this event,”
said Bud Mayo, Chairman and CEO of Cinedigm. “Whether
it’s bringing live 3-D events or 3-D movies to theatres or
allowing theatres to custom-tailor the content they deliver to
moviegoers, we are bringing new cinema-based entertainment
options to consumers and new revenue streams to theatres,”
he added.
Cinedigm’s digital cinema platform and satellite delivery
operations support more than 3,700 theatre screens across
the United States with over nine million digital showings of
Hollywood features to date.
The company has been granted its first main patent for its
distribution and formatting technology of stereoscopic contents
on different 2-D or 3-D screens, covering the method it has
developed and marketed for the distribution of 3-D content over
conventional 2-D distribution channels.
Several live 3-D sporting events have been broadcast to
theatres - and paying audiences - across the United States and
Canada. First, the FedEx BCS National Championship Game was
broadcast to some 80 digital movie theatres in 35 states across
a network belonging to Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. Then, the
NBA All-Star game received the same high tech treatment.
Empire Theatres Limited with its corporate headquarters
in Stellarton, NS and regional offices in Halifax, NS, Toronto,
ON and Calgary, AB, is a 100% owned subsidiary of Empire
Company Limited. Empire Theatres owns and operates 52
theatres, with 386 screens across Canada (including one IMAX
Theatre in Halifax) from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

use or manipulate the point of convergence
(foreground focal points) as well as divergence
(like background point of reference).
“If you try something simple like focusing
your eyes on your finger in front of your face,
your eyes are converging on that spot, kind of
like cross-eyed. And, in reality, the background
is diverging. It’s the opposite of cross-eyed! You
can get to the point, the bad point, where the
audience cannot focus on the background. Our
eyes diverge only about one percent,” he notes,
using bugs and frogs to illustrate how some creature’s eyes can diverge much more than that.
“We can create images that cause the eye to
do more than that (one percent), so a convergence rig becomes very important to help control that. Pre-planning where the focus is in 3-D
has to be perfect, or people’s eyes are snapping
back and forth!
That’s where eye strain comes from.”
Camera ops and DoPs are thus quickly learning that there will be certain rules to follow when
shooting 3-D movie pictures for large format
cinema, as James Stewart, Bill White and a few
others point out. Extremely wide vista will need
extremely high resolution resolving power to
convey details on screen. But shooting in close
quarters and at close objects can make very
exciting things happen.
As Stewart notes, film and electronic cinematographers have always played with the Z axis,
and created the illusion of depth using the existing tools at hand - focus, lighting and set design,
forced perspective. Now, there’s actual depth
to work with, and much more that can happen
on the Z axis. “We can bring things way off the
screen, and actually invade the viewers ‘personal
space’ if we want to. We can reach out and touch
the audience, and they can reach out and touch
on-screen people or products.
“It’s a magical time in digital media,” he
says as a result.
Magical, but also a little lonely.
There are just not that many people doing
3-D production at this early stage -”I know them

all” Stewart laughs half seriously. In Toronto, he
has just one option for post work: Creative Post,
with its Quantel Pablo 4K system, complete with
3-D whistles and bells.
The powerful system is used more often for
colour correction, but Stewart says he was happy
to find a local shop able to do 3-D conform
work. “There’s not much 3-D going on - there’s
just me with a real budget - so I know that it was
a risk for Creative Post to invest, but they are
future-proofed.”
Mark Northeast, vice president of sales for
Quantel Canada, creators of the Quantel Pablo
4K stereoscopic editing system, says, “It’s a
pleasure for Quantel to partner with inventive
A-list directors like James Stewart. He has been
at the leading edge of this new 3-D technology
for years, and understands this new medium like
very few directors in the world.”
Other big film houses in Toronto, like Technicolour or Deluxe, say they are ready for 3-D,
but that no such work is underway right now.
So what is the advantage for a paying client,
commercial or otherwise, to get into 3-D if very
few others are doing so?
“It’s all about right now, and being first,” Says
Stewart simply. “My clients can do a 3-D commercial and they will be one of the first ever to
do so! The catch is that it is the future!”
Tema Conter Memorial Trust founder and
National Chair Vince Savoia agrees, saying,
“When we approached Geneva about doing our
next TV spot, we never dreamed that the project
would take our message to this next dimension.
James is a leader in the 3-D field, and we felt the
immersive nature of this medium was a great fit

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2-32 BRC March 09.indd 19

for both the PSA and the charity. We have always
embraced new technology to raise awareness for
our cause. This approach allows us to reach a far
broader audience with our story, leveraging multiple platforms - web, television, mobile devices,
and cinema simultaneously.”
Stewart of course agrees: “I do not see
any reason why computer screens, TV screens,
mobile devices, cannot be 3-D,” he asserts.
“There is no reason. We will soon be demanding
depth in digital media. Instead of holding up a
flat, 2-D piece of paper, we will be immersed
in 3-D depth, and it will be natural and easy on
the eyes.
“Years from now, we will wonder why we
ever did it any other way...”
B

19

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Projec

W
LED Lighting is Cool
Broadcasters, Lighting Manufacturers and Digital
Cinematographers Get the ‘Green Light’ at Industry
Workshops
By Lee Rickwood

today’s challenging economic times,
money is often the kind of ‘green’ that
gets the most attention.
But, in a series of workshops and technical
presentations, attendees at various Green Screen
events are learning that production costs can be
saved even as production values are enhanced,
using new and environmentally-conscious production equipment.
From low power lighting devices to solid-state
recording gear to high-end digital image capture

to carbon-offset generator programs, studio and
location crews alike have a number of ways to be
both eco-efficient and super-productive.
The inaugural Green Screen Toronto workshop (held in conjunction with the Planet in
Focus film festival) presented an overview such
approaches last fall. Led by award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker Lance Carlson
csc, Shooting Green focused on green options
for individual camera people or small shooting crews. Equipment was demonstrated with
the pros and cons of each examined closely.
Discussion about cameras, batteries and record
media, as well as breakthroughs in lighting and
other developments in cinematography, obviously engaged the attendees.
Planet in Focus Artistic Director Candida
Paltiel noted at the time, “Planet in Focus was
the first film festival worldwide to put out a call

for carbon neutral films: works that were created
with a minimal carbon footprint. We commend
and celebrate the filmmakers in the vanguard of
this movement.”
The celebration continues, and the business
of greening media production, and incorporating
green best practices in film and video production
from the production floor to the administrative
offices, has been explored in subsequent industry events, including programs co-presented
by Green Screen Toronto, the alliance of film
industry organizations developing environmental
standards and protocols for green production.
Most recently, the ‘LED is Cool Lighting’
workshop explored the latest tools, techniques
and technologies for lighting film, TV and video
productions.
Co-presented by RTA Ryerson University and
a group of sponsors and supporters, including

Presenters at Green Screen events encourage film and videomakers to think about eco-friendly production techniques, like cool lights and solid state recording. Left, the CBC’s Brad Dickson; below left,
session convenor Lance Carlson; below, hands-on in the studio.

DB4 and DB8 now include the LM5D stereo
and surround Radar meter as a free update.

www.hhb.co.uk

TCBROADCAST.COM

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3/18/09 3:52:18 PM

People

Lit with cool LED fixtures, with windows covered by virtual polarizing gels (see below), CBC’s studio
in Beijing provided a great vantage point.

Color Kinetics, DSC Charts, Kino Flo, PS – Production Services, Rosco, Panasonic, Sony/PCI,
Source Shop/LitePanels, Sylvania Osram and
more, the day long event helped explore the suitability and use of light emitting diode fixtures as
stand-alone or integrated illumination sources
Carlson again was the host for the event,
and he introduced a number of key presenters,
including Brad Dickson, Senior Lighting Director
at CBC; Freider Hochheim, himself a Ryerson
graduate, and the president and founder of Kino
Flo, one of the first companies to deliver high
output, cool operation, colour stable fluorescent
lights for studio and location use.
Several noted DPs and cinematographers
with experience in using LED fixtures also shared
their perspectives during panel discussion and
hands-on, in-studio sessions.

Dickson offered his insight and experience
with LED lighting, including how he lit CBC
Sports’ studio at the Beijing 2008 Olympics solely
with LED fixtures, as well as the set-up of and all
LED newsroom for CBC French language studios
in Toronto.
He joked right off the bat that what mattered
to his bosses was that “It has saved us money
— they don’t care about lighting and LDs! The
payback can come in year one, taking into
account lower power requirements, less HVAC
operation, all that stuff, when using LEDs.”
As CBC’s Senior Lighting Director, Dickson
has more than 30 years experience working on
TV productions of all kinds, including previous
Olympics, news and sports programming, as well
as variety, comedy and more.
As LD, the green Dickson is most concerned

about is the colour that the lights put out. Lighting people care about what the camera sees, he
said, and how the camera responds to RGB in
the shot.
“The new LEDs do not have as much green in
them, and you can achieve daylight or tungsten
mixes now,” he said, demonstrating the point
with screen captures from vectorscope and
SMPTE colour bar displays. He noted first where
the ‘spikes’ line-up on the reference display, and
then he showed where any spikes from a light
source might sit.
Using a DSC colour reference chart, he could
see what the camera sees, and was ready for any
necessary video manipulation. “Not all LEDs are
viable for video,” he said. But units with good
consistency are available, such as those from
Color Kinetics, one of a number of manufacturers that Dickson referenced and whose units he
has tried.
Dickson emphasized that “TV white must be
made from the available RGB for the camera, not
the human eye. It looks different to the eye, so all
I care about is how it looks to the camera.”
And it looks just fine, as Dickson then
showed using images and sequences from the
Beijing Summer Olympics.
A confluence of factors almost dictated that
LEDs be used in China — overall production
budget and expenses was one such factor, but
so too some physical characteristics of CBC’s
Beijing studio itself — in terms of size and
location.
“Our entire Olympic studio was lit by LEDs

RoscoVIEW is a virtual polarizing filter system used to control and balance indoor and outside illumination, such as during CBC’s Olympic coverage from
Beijing (top of page).

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March 2009

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3/18/09 3:52:26 PM

People
— even the on-set Olympic rings were LED,
Dickson said. “Yet, when the host Chinese asked
us to fire up the entire studio to do a test in
advance of the Opening Ceremonies, it barely
registered. They said ‘Please put up your lights’
and we were going ‘They are up!’ The whole
studio was fired by 35 amps, in three phases
only, so it barely registered!”
Interestingly, Dickson noted some other
obvious savings and benefits from LED lighting
that the on-camera talent first noticed.
“We left the lights on all day and no one
cared,” he said. “Make up was done once, and
never really had to be done again. No perspiring,
no touch-ups.”
The cool, soft lighting left host and anchor
Ron McLean to wonder, ‘Is this it? Is this the
lighting? It’s like a lounge in here!’ as Dickson
related, adding, “There was a relaxed feel onand off-air; you don’t get that with 12K HMIs!”
But, Dickson continued, using LED lighting
was not the only reason the Beijing broadcast
was like an “on-air science experiment”.
It marked one of his first uses of the virtual
polarizing filter system called RoscoVIEW
It’s a two-part system, with a wide width
polarizing filter in gel form for mounting on
the windows, say, and a matching optical glass
polarizing filter for mounting on a camera lens.
Together, the filters can be used to instantly
control 100% of exterior brightness, as seen
by the camera thorough the window. It does
so without affecting the lighting and exposure
within the studio or set.
And, by rotating the camera filter, users can
change the degree of cross-polarization through
the window where the gel filter is applied.
Dickson said he decided to use RoscoVIEW
in Beijing about “two seconds after I saw it being
demonstrated.
“We had a million dollar plus background
— the famous Bird’s Nest stadium was directly
behind our vantage point — which we fought to
get. If the view did not come across, well, why
were we there in the first place? We also knew
we would be dealing with variable lighting conditions, as seen outside the windows that made
up the studio background.”
Dickson had six cameras in studio shooting
out that window, pedestal mounted and a jib
arm. Each was equipped with a custom made
plastic matte box to hold the RoscoVIEW camera
filters, sized at 176 mm.
As they were developed in-house, Dickson
was able to have small tabs added for rotation

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 23

of the filters — the lighting and climactic
conditions changed regularly, even between
segments, so Dickson’s camera crew could
adapt quickly and easily while maintaining a
nice consistent look.
He also showed that the polarized filter
system, along with the overall lower lighting
levels of the LED equipped studios, meant he
could get shots he would not normally get — all
with more detail than could normally be seen
through the Beijing haze.
“I’ve got variable ND in the window,” he
enthused at the time, but he’s honest in saying
he was not 100 per cent thrilled about using
the system. Mounting issues, for example, have
to be addressed for different situations. Double
sided tape can work in a one-off, Dickson said,
but RoscoVIEW is a rather delicate material and
it can tear sometimes.
In the small gap between the window and
the affixed filter, heat can be trapped, and
some buckling might be observed as a result,
he noted. “We had apiece of gel 8 feet by 17
feet, so it covered a wide area of glass and was
susceptible.”
However, being an early adopter means you
can discover the plusses and minuses of any new
technology, Dickson pointed out, adding that
you can also discover “lots of new ideas, too!”
He’s looking to using the filter system
inside on-set lamps, for example, dialing down
their brightness while maintain overall cameras exposure.
Not having to constantly change out fixed ND
filters, and not having to spend time with gels
on stand by, means camera crews and lighting
directors can spend more time on other more
visible creative elements in front of and behind

Events Turn Spotlight on light
emitting diodes (LED)
Lighting professionals and the public
will have an opportunity to learn about
LED (light-emitting diode) lighting during
a two-day event in early April. It’s the
second year in a row for greenTbiz
and LEDiscovery, staged at Toronto’s
Exhibition Place.
The LEDiscovery Display Forum
features exhibits from over 20 local
LED manufacturers and product
representatives. Exhibitors get the
chance to provide a snap shot of
their organization and products
during scheduled infomercial-style
presentations.
New this year is Table Talk, a series
of round table discussions about issues
that affect the LED technology industry
and the lighting community, including
reduced electricity consumption, re­‑
duced maintenance costs and
adjustable colour and intensity
(dimming) settings to suit a wide range of
industrial applications and operational
requirements.
For more information,
visit www.greenTbiz.org.

the camera.
It’s up to the bean counters to enjoy the
savings realized through low power lighting and
the new accessories being developed to take
full advantage of not just green, but the entire
spectrum.
B

September 17 - 20, 2009

CCBE 2009
FOR THE 2009 CONFERENCE
ROOMS WILL BE GOING FAST.

Broadcaster

23

3/19/09 1:18:25 PM

Photos courtesy Ross Video.

NSCC students in the Radio and Television Arts program left-to-right, front row Everett Stone, Samantha Power and Shannon MacIntyre, back row, Bill
Barnaby and Nikki Comeau.

Broadcast
Training
is
Not
Automatic
But Learning New Production Automation System Boosts Employment Prospects
By Lee Rickwood

O

verlooking the harbour in Dartmouth, NS,
a new state-of-the-art television production facility has recently been upgraded
with the latest digital transmission and automated device control infrastructure.
Two TV studios and associated control rooms
are now in operation, following the estimated $1
million plus installation and upgrade project.
No, it’s not a major new broadcast facility,
nor is it one of the region’s many independent
media production houses. It’s school — in particular, it is the Radio & Television Arts environment at the Nova Scotia Community College.
NSCC recently upgraded its broadcast production environment with Ross Video’s OverDrive Automated Production Control System
(APC), becoming the first and only educator in
the country to teach students production automation using OverDrive APC technology in its
main control room and studio facility.
“We recognize the industry is moving towards
automated production control and we want our
students to be able to learn using the latest technology so they have the necessary skills to work

24

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2-32 BRC March 09.indd 24

March 2009

in the industry,” said Stephen Melanson, member of the Radio and Television Arts faculty and
technical focal point for the College’s significant
broadcast infrastructure investment.
“Now, I come from the old world,” Melanson
laughs, noting he is a graduate of the broadcast
program himself. “I tell my students ‘I am
analog!’ But as the industry changes, we have
to change, too. We are committed to using the
most appropriate tools available to prepare our
students for a successful career in this industry.
There are places you will still encounter analog
gear; there are still tape environments along with
the digital and solid state.
Broadcast TV students at NSCC have access to
as many as seven portable digital SD camcorders, some full size and a couple handicam-like
configurations. One HDV camera and one record
deck have recently been added, as well.
“While there is lots of analog gear in the
second, smaller, studio that acts as a working
newsroom, all that will go to digital in the next
little while, as we upgrade ENG to go tapeless.”

But there’s also an automated newsroom in
the TV facility across the harbour,” he says, noting the CBC’s presence in Halifax. “We have to be
ready for what’s coming, and we have to make
sure our students are ready.”
Those students, in the College’s two-year
RTA program, learn about all the functions in
a radio or TV station. They are exposed to the
theory behind how a station works, and the
theory is reinforced with hands-on practical
time, spent operating cameras, microphones,
lighting, editing and other technical equipment.
Editorial skills such as scripting on-air news, ad
and promo copy; producing, researching and
writing outlines for both media, and so on.
But in the second years, students focus on
one of three specific areas:
• Television Production
• Radio Performance/Studio Production
• Broadcast Journalism
As Melanson notes, both the program’s curriculum development and its technological infrastructure were developed in close consultation
with industry partners, including regional broad-

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:52:50 PM

casters and broadcast distributors, independent
production or duplication facilities, equipment
providers and suppliers, and more.
Co-op opportunities provide an opportunity
for students to get paid employment between the
first and second year of the program, while still
completing the learning outcomes of the course.
Employers thus have a role as co-educators,
providing ‘real-world’ learning opportunities
beyond the bounds of the classroom, and building a bridge to the labour market.
A market that faces challenges, for sure.
“There might not be much of an increase
in jobs and employment opportunities in traditional broadcast; that’s not where the growth
is,” Melanson acknowledges. “But there are
new technologies opening up new opportunities for more efficient automated productions,
for multi-screen distribution. As the industry
changes, there are lots of opportunities for visual
storytellers.”
The opportunity for expansion and upgrade
of the broadcast training facilities at NSCC itself
came as a result of a major industry change: it
was one of the beneficiaries from the Canwest/
Alliance Atlantis specialty channel acquisition.
As Melanson points out, in the fine print of that
multi-billion dollar deal were significant investment commitments.
“We are named as beneficiaries, and that
gave us the opportunity to upgrade our facilities,” he itemizes. “We have taken the entire
facility’s signal path to digital SDI, even though
we are acquiring analog. We have graphics and
character generators, audio mixers, playback
servers, and all can be controlled with the
OverDrive.”
Eastern Canada PCI Atlantic played a key
role in the acquisition and installation of the
Ross OverDrive system. Even as Melanson had
to maintain his teaching schedules and classroom activities, PCI staff were charged with the
installation and integration of the new system.
“We had a teaching and production schedule we
had to keep running,” he recalls. “But they were
more than able to work with that. They did a lot
of the fine-tuning on the weekends, in fact, and
that was more efficient all around PCI has been
tremendous in supporting us.”
“We’re pleased that NSCC has implemented
OverDrive Automated Production Control technology as part of the Television Production Specialist program,” said Brad Rochon, Marketing

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 25

Product Manager, OverDrive. “It’s important for
students learning television production to have
an understanding of this technology to better
prepare them to enter the workforce.”
Designed and developed in Canada by Ross,
OverDrive clearly represents the broadcast
world’s adoption of IT techniques and technologies. Using the latest Java programming language
in a classic client/server architecture, OverDrive
communicates with video servers and switchers,
audio mixers, robotic cameras, multiple graphic
channels and more. Serial, IP and Ethernet
device control is enabled over compatible devic-

es, and in newsroom applications, its unique
LiveLink MOS (media object servers) connection
to the newsroom control system (NRCS) enables
direct control of production rundowns and MOS
enabled devices.
In fact, the automation system integrates
with over 100 broadcast products and production systems, as Rochon points out. “OverDrive
completes the link between newsroom editorial
systems and production device control, and can
automate server clip playout, robotic cameras,
CGs and more. But it also still allows manual
intervention, so there’s great flexibility. It can be

NSCC student Samantha Power left and Ross Demonstration Artist Julie Mulvihill right during an
OverDrive Automated Production Control System training session.

Western Association of
Broadcast Engineers
Watch our website www.wabe.ca for more details on
our upcomng SAIT/WABE training event.
Mark your calendar for this year at the
Telus Convention Centre in Calgary on

configured in many ways, and is scalable to all
kinds of live production.”
Before that link was completed, Rochon
describes, the production process was a manual,
paper driven procedure, one that made keeping
things in sync more difficult when unanticipated changes had to be made. Automation is the
opposite, he says.
“Some people worry that automation ‘dumbs
the show down’, but it actually increases
Flexibility and efficiency,” he maintains.
“Productivity increases with the ability to do
faster turn-arounds.”
Using a typical morning show configuration
as an example, he explains how OverDrive can
support automated and manual production. It’s
pre-programmed to connect scripted content
with appropriate camera shots and CG supers,
but when a live band segment comes on, an
operator comes in and runs the audio board
manually. Then, there’s one button access back
to full automation at the conclusion of the
unscripted segment.
NSCC Radio and Television arts students are
already using the Ross OverDrive system to produce their own weekly television show. All students rotate through the various crew positions,
and are responsible for content development
at all levels. It’s a terrific real-world learning
experience, and it connects the students at NSCC
directly to their industry and their community.
Keeping its power and capability in mind, the

Julie Mulvihill, Ross Demonstration Artist on the right with NSCC students Samantha Power and Bill
Barnaby during an OverDrive training session.

students are nevertheless learning that the automated production process is only as efficient as
the preparation of the operators is good. That’s
great lesson to learn as technology continues
to impact the broadcast industry overall, and it
has given these students in particular a greater
appreciation of the importance of the entire
planning and production process.
“I’m excited to be a part of a growing industry in broadcast technology. I feel really lucky
to attend the first school to use this automated
system, and I know this will give me an edge
and make me more employable when I graduate
from the program,” said Shannon MacIntyre,
Radio and Television Arts Student.
The irony of teaching automated production
is not lost on Melanson, who says the program

initially struggled with the decision to move in
that direction. “The downside of automation is
that it reduces jobs, and that goes against our
fundamental purpose here. But the trends of the
industry must be responded to appropriately,
and we see this as the best way to prepare our
students for what they will eventually encounter
out there.”
It seems to be working well: according to
NSCC’s most recent survey of graduates (2007),
91 per cent of NSCC graduates are employed; 86
per cent in their field of study.
Melanson, as an NSCC grad himself, is proofof-placement. He spent several years in local
community cable TV, moved to news and regional TV services, before working with the provincial
legislature’s TV service, and then eventually, the

Broadcast Educators Gather in Nova Scotia
As the techniques and technologies
used in digital media production develop,
educators must continually adapt their
curriculum, their teaching style, their
technical infrastructure.
Media educators and broadcast
trainers across the country are facing
issues similar to those encountered
at NSCC, and learning how to best
incorporate new technology with
effective pedagogy.
‘Manage the Winds of Change’ is
therefore a most appropriate catch
phrase for this year’s Annual Broadcast
Educators Association of Canada
Conference, and it’s appropriate that
NSCC is one of the regional hosts for
the event (Steve Melanson is one of the
Conference Co-Chairs).
BEAC is dedicated to the

26

Broadcaster

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 26

March 2009

professional development of faculty
and administrators in Radio, Television,
Broadcast Journalism and New Media
programs in provincially accredited
colleges and universities in Canada.
This year, the Conference will be held
in Halifax/Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, from
May 29-31, 2009.
Professional development sessions
planned for the event will explore issues
related to:
• diversity
• employment challenges and trends
• the shrinking news world
• shared best practices, and much
more!
Also at this year’s Conference, the
Association will honour the outstanding
work produced by its students and recent
graduates at the 8th Annual National

BEAC Student Awards
Student creativity and technical
achievement in radio, television/video,
and new media/animation programs
taught in BEAC member institutions will
be recognized with one of 12 video and
six audio awards.
In addition, the best of the best is
selected from both the audio and video
categories and awarded the BEACCanPro Award for the best of the Video,
or the BEAC-Media Intelligence Award
for the best of the Audio.
The productions selected by the
judging panels as reflecting the highest
standards exemplified by BEAC will be
recognized in an hour-long television
special to be aired the following year.
For more information, visit http://www.
beac.ca/conference/conference.htm

www.broadcastermagazine.com

3/18/09 3:53:39 PM

Industry News

community college where he now works.
His was a precedent setting path. Local cable
operator and TV provider EastLink is a great
supported of the program, he says, and one of
its major employers, providing job opportunities
for students not just in the Halifax area, but also
province-wide, through its smaller bureaus and
facilities province-wide.
Melanson adds that job placement opportunities also arise due to the areas’ numerous
production houses, duplication facilities and
independent production companies that create
specialty channel content. The provincial government, the Legislature and several universities
and colleges (through distance ed activities) also
have production requirements - and employment
opportunities.
Based on his own broadcast career, Melanson had a strong vision for where broadcast
training program should go. His work experience helped him understand how new technology would continue to revolutionize TV production, and he wanted to make sure his students
were equipped.
As Rochon sees it, the school has to operate
as a business to survive, like any other, so it
has to turn out students that can jump on any
new technology, incorporate it and operate it as
required. “By using the latest gear and receiving
the best training, NSCC’s students are employable
right now, and up to speed on the latest technology that the industry is using.”
So they are on a path to the new broadcast
world, one in which the multi-screen opportunities for TV include mobile, online, IP and other
ways to create, publish and re-purpose broadcast TV content.
Curriculum development at NSCC will incorporate the least new media developments,
Melanson confirms, and some of the features
being considered for future OverDrive development will help connect evolving content creation
and playout platforms, Rochon says.
“You have to be creative with your production, and your prediction, in this business,”
Melanson says. “You have to understand where
the industry is going, and be compatible with
the emerging workflows and be able to interface
with other technologies.”
Good advice, for students and equipment
manufactures alike.
B

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 27

continued from page 15
acal killer loose on the island. Thirteen weeks
later, all questions will be answered, the killer
will be revealed and only a few will survive.
“We are so excited for this show and know
viewers will get hooked!” Barbara Williams, EVP,
Content, Canwest Broadcasting, said in a release.
“The premise behind the series is innovative and
instantly engaging; add to that the outstanding
creative online campaign, and it guarantees to
take television viewing to a whole new level.”
Multi-platform highlights include full episodes streamed online, interactive weekly victim
polls and a list of character bios where users will
be able to track who has been killed and who is
still alive.
Moreover, the series also offers viewers a complementary online experience via HarpersGlobe.
com, a custom created micro-site with series
extending content that follows fictional journalist Robin Matthews, who is hired by the island’s
paper to start an online community. The first of the
17 exclusive digital episodes is now online.
The TV broadcast debuts April 9.
Ross Video Acquires Media Refinery
Ross Video is increasing its presence in Europe
with the purchase of Media Refinery, developer
of XPression, a 2D/3D high definition character
generator and motion graphics system.
Media Refinery’s employees are now employees of Ross Video Europe and will continue
to be based in Hilversum’s Media Park, The
Netherlands.
“Live graphics will enhance Ross’ portfolio
of live production solutions,” said David Ross,
CEO of Ross Video. “The acquisition of a leading edge, live 2D/3D high definition character
generation and motion graphics system adds
to Ross’ strength in providing customers with
complete solutions. We will be increasing our
presence in European markets as a result of this
acquisition. Ross now has offices and development staff based in the Netherlands.”
XPression offers real time layering and animation of 3D models, 2D and 3D text, rendered
The Cross Border Shopping… Terminator

animations, live video and web content. XPression is able to integrate real time data into 3D
graphics and animations, and so is used in news
and sports productions with live connections to
spreadsheets, databases, RSS feeds, newsroom
editorial systems and other live data sources.
CHUM FM Honoured at CMW, 98.1
CHFI Morning Host Erin Davis Feted
CHUM FM received top honours at this year’s
Canadian Music Industry Awards, when it was
named Major Market Station of the Year. The
awards were handed out at the Fairmont Royal
York Toronto, as part of Canadian Music Week.
In addition, the CHUM FM morning show
with Roger, Darren & Marilyn were recognized
as Major Market On-Air Talent of the Year, and
CHUM FM’s Barry Stewart was honoured as
Major Market Music Director of the Year.
“This is the very best team in the business,”
said David Corey, CHUM FM’s Program Director. “The morning show is as strong as ever and
everyone at CHUM FM deserves a piece of these
awards.”
CHUM FM draws a weekly audience of more
than 1,000,000 listeners and is the most listen-to
FM radio station in Canada.
CHFI morning show host Erin Davis has
received The Rosalie Award at the Trailblazer’s
Breakfast this morning, held as part of Canadian
Music Week.
The award is given out yearly to one of
Canada’s top women broadcasters.
“Erin is an exceptional talent and truly deserves
this honour. All of us at CHFI are so proud of Erin
and everything she has accomplished in her
career” said Julie Adam, 98.1 CHFI PD/GM.
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Davis’
career in broadcasting spans 25 years and
includes distinctions such as co-host at CKLW
Windsor where she was the first female co-host
in the powerful Detroit market, her own TV show
on Rogers Television, and of course her current
tenure as morning show co-host on 98.1 CHFI
with Mike Cooper.

Workstation Supports RED
Digital Cinema-based CPUintensive Content and Storage
Globalstor Data Corporation is shipping
its ExtremeStor-DI REDe solution, calling
it a next generation workstation based on
Intel’s Nehalem processing architecture.
Built around Intel’s highly advanced
Hi-k metal gate silicon technology,
Nehalem dynamically manages cores,
threads, cache, interfaces and power to
deliver outstanding energy efficiency and
performance on demand, the company
describes, which is essential to an
efficient, successful DI workflow.
The workstation has been engineered
and certified to work with highperformance graphics, capture and
playback cards, as well as the best open
platform colour-grading technologies on
the market. Scalable from 2.5 to 24TBs
of internal storage, it integrates the
Windows XP or Windows Server 2003
open platforms operating system in a
tower package.

28

Broadcaster

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 28

March 2009

Panasonic will deliver its new P2 HD
camcorder in April.
The AG-HPX300 features: individual
frame AVC-Intra recording and variable
frame rates; 1/3” 2.2-megapixel 3-MOS
imagers; standard interchangeable 17x
HD Fujinon lens in a 3.6 kilograms (eight
pounds) shoulder-mount design.
The AG-HPX300 imager captures full
native resolution (1920 x 1080) HD images,
while an on-board 20-bit digital signal
processor (DSP) also image performance.
The AG-HPX300 records individual
frame images in 100Mbps DVCPRO HD
and in standard definition in DVCPRO50,
DVCPRO and DV. The AVC-Intra 100
and 50 codecs can allow recording in a
choice of HD video formats: 1080/59.94i;
1080/29.97P and 1080/23.98P (native
24p/30p); and 720P with variable frames in
23.98pN, 29.97pN and 59.94P.
The output of the camera can be set
for down-conversion or cross-conversion
with letterbox, 4:3 crop or squeeze.
The camera is equipped with numerous
features including: Chromatic Aberration
Compensation (CAC) to maximize lens
performance; built-in scan reverse for use
with a variety of film lenses; a Dynamic

Range Stretch (DRS) function to help
compensate for wide variations in lighting;
a waveform and vector scope display; and
two focus assist functions.
Equipped with two P2 card slots and
new 64GB P2 cards, the AG-HPX300
offers recording capacity can exceed
tape-based camcorders. The camera
also features an SD memory card slot
for saving or loading scene files and
user settings, or proxy data (optional AJYAX800G Proxy board required).
The AG-HPX300 is equipped with a
widescreen 1.23 megapixel LCOS colour
viewfinder and a widescreen 921k 3.2-inch
LCD colour monitor. It features a lowpower consumption of 18 watts.

Panasonic’s New 10-bit, 4:2:2 P2 HD Camcorder

Wireless Video Sender for TV and Film Gets Approval
Toronto-based RF-LINKS reports its new
GX-68 UHF Professional Video Sender is
the first device of its kind to be industry
approved in Canada.
The GX-68 Video Sender has a wireless
range of up to 600 feet (line-of-sight)
that can be extended to over one
kilometre with the use of a M806 tuner and high-gain
antennas.

Wireless Video
Transmission from
RF Unit

Transmitted video can be received by
UHF air TV band channels 14 through 69
(a significant advantage over older models
that could transmits only to channels 65
through 69), making it perfect for directors
to monitor what is being shot by all roving
Steadicams on set.
The device features dip switches in
the back panel (versus the turn screw
of previous models) for easy channel
changing and a built-in video filter and
amplifier to guarantee excellent colour
quality.
The 3.2” x 2” x 0.9” solid metal enclosure
features a professional Hirose connector.
The video sender is available in NTSC
and PAL format and can be powered by
either a 12 V battery pack or Anton-Bauer
14.6 V to 32 V battery.

zoom HD field lenses, with Canon’s Optical
Shift Image Stabilizer Technology for rocksolid imagery at telephoto distances. Handheld cameras were outfitted with eight
Canon HJ22ex7.6B IRSE long focal-length
portable zoom lenses, and two HJ11ex4.7B
IRSE wide-angle portable lenses.
The Canon HJ22ex7.6B IRSE zoom and
Canon HJ11ex4.7B IRSE wide-angle both
feature digitally pre-programmable iris,
focus and zoom controls for repeatable
precision.
Specially modified Canon lenses also
played a part in the sometimes controversial
“yellow line” that is used to show a first
down to television viewers. SportsMEDIA
Technology software reads zoom and
focus data from the lenses, which is fed to
the telemetry systems that produce the
graphic overlays.

Canon HD Lenses at the Super Bowl

EVS Toolbox for Tapeless Production
EVS Broadcast Equipment is
introducing Insio, its latest
software application for
pre-recorded TV programs,
to coincide with its release
of the EVS Silverline, a
new brand for near-live
and pre-recorded studio
productions.
Insio is a new software
application for pre-recorded
program production.
Combined with any EVS
production server, Insio is a
toolbox for controlling
each production phase
of pre-recorded TV
programs, including
recording multiple
feeds, instant review,
clip management,
metadata creation, clip

Insio software from EVS
Broadcast Equipment

transfer and feed streaming
to post-production.
The tapeless solution is
designed to enhance and
speed up studio production
workflows, and can
integrate with existing postproduction infrastructures.
Insio’s touch-screen
interface supports clip
management with several
options, including the
addition of production notes.

New SSL C100 Broadcast System

Solid State Logic (SSL) is showing a new generation of its C100
Digital Broadcast Console.
The C100 HD-S combines benchmark audio processing and
signal path performance, the company describes, while providing
simple scalability and expandability with robust, proprietary, virus
proof systems, SNMP remote diagnostics and unrivalled service
and support.
The console will be showcased with the new Blackrock
processor system, accompanied by the new B-RIO modular I/O
rack, MORSE Stage Box and MORSE Router.
The Blackrock and B-RIO combination are scaled and
configured to exactly meet customer requirements making
dedicated DSP power for processing and system configuration
available to the operator at all times. The space and cost efficient
Processor and I/O options enable engineers to specify systems
which exactly meet technical and budgetary requirements.
The MORSE Stagebox provides fiber connected modular
remote I/O. The MORSE Stage Box can either directly address
Blackrock in simple installations or be used in conjunction with
a MORSE Router in multi room environments where resource
sharing is required.
The MORSE Router provides
a Modular Resource Sharing
Engine for all
SSL C-Series
Consoles.
SSL C-100 Broadcast Console

2-32 BRC March 09.indd 29

Broadcaster

29

3/18/09 3:54:28 PM

New Products

OptiPin from Digital Film Technology

clairfication
Due to a mistake in last month’s
Broadcaster Magazine, incorrect
information was included in the New
Products section, in regards to a new
product release from TOA Canada.

Digital Film Technology (DFT) launched its
OptiPin, a new film guidance and image
stabilization option for the Spirit 4K/2K/HD

TOA’s SX-2000 is not available in
Canada or the U.S.; it is only available
in Japan.
Broadcaster regrets any inconvenience
this may have caused.
For information about TOA Canada, visit
www.toacanada.com.

family of telecines and scanners.
OptiPin addresses imperfections in
the film such as bad splices, flawed
edges and positional inconsistencies,
without affecting scanning speed. After
installation, this solution requires no user
interaction, and is ideal for a multitude of
applications including new OCN, archival,
and restoration.
The OptiPin system scans the
perforations and uses a special film
guidance to make it less sensitive to film
edge imperfections. From the perforation
images motion vectors are generated to
electronically stabilize the image. For
this purpose the motion vectors are
passed through the Spirit’s spatial image
processor, which performs vertical
and horizontal image positioning at an
accuracy of 1/64 of an image pixel. The
resulting image stability is comparable
to that of pin-registered transports with
the benefits of real-time capstan driven
transports.

Film guidance and image stabilization for 4k

Sony Adds to HD Disc Systems
Sony’s new high-definition field recorder, the PDW-HR1, is designed as an ENG/
EFP complement for Sony’s newest XDCAM HD422 optical camcorder, while
also supporting legacy formats including MPEG IMX, DVCAM and 4:2:0 HD 24P
content.
The recorder features a built-in up/down converter, and provides multi-format
(1080i/720P) recording flexibility, as well as HD/SD conversion and crossconversion during playback between 1080i and 720P. It has 24P (23.98) record/
playback capability for 4:2:2 HD content as a standard feature, making it suitable
not only for ENG/EFP, but also for use in an HDCAM SR production workflow,
recording content acquired by
Sony CineAlta cameras.
A range of video and audio interfaces allows for easy interoperability with
other devices and editing systems, with connectivity via HD-SDI in/out, HDMI
out, SD-SDI in/out, composite in/out Gigabit Ethernet, RS-422A control and
optional i.LINK TS in/out and DVB-ASI out.
Users can record HD content to the dual-layer 50GB version of Sony’s optical
Professional Disc media, model PFD50DLA - approximately 95 minutes at 50
Mbps, 150 minutes at 35Mbps, and 200 minutes at 25Mbps HD. It can also handle
content on PFD-23A single layer discs.

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March 2009

Anton Bauer’s
Dionic HD battery

Dionic Batteries Power
Latest Cameras
Anton/Bauer is introducing its Dionic HC
high current camera battery, in support of
digital cameras and other portable gear
with increased power requirements.
The Dionic HC is capable of up to 10
amps, the manufacturer reports. With
85 watt-hr capacity, it offers up to nine
hours of run time. A built-in LCD real-time
fuel gauge tracks usage, and its seven
segment numerical icon display indicates
hours while the circular arcs illustrate 15minute time intervals.